Demountable racks



March 20, 1956 G, WINEMAN, JR 2,738,883

DEMOUNTABLE RACKS Filed April 20, 1953 INVENTOR. mhemom fly 1 Ila/722' BY ATTORNEYS DEMOUNTABLE RACKS Walter G. Wineman, Jr., Sebewning, Mich. Application April 20, 1953, Serial No. 349,599 2 Claims. (Cl. 211-148) This invention relates to demountable racks for storing stock and equipment of all kinds and more particularly to a sectional rack which can be readily set up adjacent production and assembly lines or in storage rooms and the like.

One of the prime objects of my invention is to provide a rack consisting of a plurality of prefabricated unit sections which can be assembled one upon the other and one beside another to thus provide a unitary storage device which can be built up in different shapes and sizes to accommodate to different available storage spaces and different capacity requirements.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rack in which the vertical spacing of the unit sections and thereby the spacing of the shelves thereof can be readily varied as desired.

A further object of the invention is to design a rack which can be very rapidly and simply assembled or disassembled without the use of tools of any kind since no bolts or welds or the like are necessary to secure the various unit sections together.

hese features are particularly advantageous where the rack or racks are to be used adjacent production or assembly lines in plants in which it is normal practice to make frequent changes in the course and direction of the lines or to re-locate the lines altogether.

A further object of the invention is to provide a rack made up of unit sections which are fabricated of standard stock and connected when assembled by standard tubing so that no special castings or parts of any kind are required.

Another object of this invention is to design a demountable rack of sturdy and durable construction which uniformly distributes the load applied to it and is stabilized thereby, the rack being capable of supporting very heavy loads without failing.

A further object of the invention is to design a rack of the type described which is very well suited to supporting pallets of various kinds which must, of course, be accessible to lift trucks and the like.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a demountable rack having the afore-mentioned attributes which is extremely economical to fabricate and assemble and disassemble.

With the above and other objects in view, the present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes may be made in the form, size, proportion, and minor details of construction, without departing from the spirit, or sacrificing any of the advantages of the inven tion.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a front elevational fabricated unit sections which rack.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof.

view of one of the premake up the assembled have shown the Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of an assembled rack with a portion of one of the tubular riser caps and one of the. base risers broken away.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view thereof.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary, perspective view of one of the tubular riser filler members.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged, fragmentary, perspective view of the filler member mounted in position adjacent an outermost corner post, the upper tubular riser being omitted from the view.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing in which I preferred embodiment of my invention, and more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 thereof wherein the basic unit or section is shown, a numeral A generally indicates the unit which comprises right angle triangular corner posts 10, 11, 12 and 13, the posts 10 and 12 and 11 and 13 being intermediately connected by tubular side rails 14 which are welded or otherwise rigidly secured thereto.

A skeleton shelf assembly comprising tubular end members 15 connected by spanning members 16 and 17 is welded between the side rails 14. As will later be seen, the shelf unit need not be built as shown and described, but could be designed in any suitable manner as required to support particular stock or equipment. Further, the rails 14 could comprise pipe sections or I-beams or the like without departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof.

In Figs. 3 and 4, I have shown an assembled rack built up of unit sections A, B, C and D but obviously additional sections could be employed to increase the length or height of the rack as desired. The unit section B comprisestriangular corner posts 18, 19, 20 and 21, the posts 18 and 20, and 19 and 21 being intermediately joined by side rails 22 to which are welded endshelf members 23 withspanning members 24 and 25.

The unit section C comprises front, left and right corner posts 26 and 27 and rear corner posts (not shown) similarly intermediately joined by side rails 28 .to which is welded a shelf assembly (not shown) including end members 28a.

The unit section D comprises triangular corner posts 29, 30, 31 and 32, similarly intermediately joined by side rails 33 to which are welded end shelf members 34 with spanning members 35 and 36. It is to be observed that the triangular corner posts on the right end of each section are disposed with the hypotenuse surfaces thereof facing generally forwardly as at 10a and 11a, 18a and 19a, 29a and 30a, and that the left end corner posts are disposed with their hypotenuse surfaces facing rearwardly as at 12b and 13b, 20b and 21b, and 31b and 32b. The hypotenuse surfaces of the other posts are not shown but are likewise disposed. When the sections A and C, and B and D are placed in side by side relation, the hypotenuse faces of the adjacent corner posts abut as at 18a and 31b, and 19a and 32b. The lower ends of the abutting posts of the units A and C can then be accommodated in tubular riser members 37 of rectangular cross section which form the base legs of the device, and similar intermediate tubular riser members 38 can be placed over the upper ends of these posts, the members 38 accommodating, also, the lower ends of the abutting posts 18 and 31 and 19 and 32 of the unit sections B and D. Riser caps 39 are slipped over the upper ends of the posts 18 and 31 and 19 and 32.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I have shown a triangular filler member 40, a plurality of which are to be employed in abutting engagement with the corner posts at the ends of the rack to reinforce and strengthen the ends and provide a uniformly balanced structure. Intermediate the ends of the members 40 on the rightangle sides thereof are welded L-shaped straps 41, and it will be obvious that when the tiller members are inserted in the risers 37 and 38 at the ends of the rack, that the straps-41 engagethe upper edges of these members and are thus secured vertically in position.

To assemble the rack shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the -unit sections A and C are first placed in side by side relation so that the hypotenuse faces of the corner posts are in abutting relation. Risers 37 are then placed on'the lower ends of these posts and on the lower ends of the outermost posts to form'the base legs of the rack. Filler members 40 are inserted from above into the outermost risers 37 with their hypotenuse surfaces in abutting relation with the'hypotenuse surfaces of the outermost posts, the straps 41 engaging the upper edges of the risers 37 to vertically position the members 40. Tubular risers 38 are "thence slipped over the upper ends of the posts of the'secti'ons AandC. The unit sections B and D can then beplaced on -the-rack, the'lower ends of the corner posts being accommodated 'in the tubular risers 38. Fillers 40 are added-adjacent the outermost posts of the sections B and D and riser caps 39 are placed over the'upper ends of the corner posts of these unit sections as shown. It will be readily apparent that additional unit sections could be mounted-overthe sections B and D as desired and also that the length of the-rack could be increased by joining additional unit sections-on the ends thereof. Further, the-relativeheight of'the shelf assemblies can be varied by'emp'loying-risersof different heights than shown. Obviously, also, the strength of the rack is dependent on the size of -the various elements thereof and for very heavy loads, l-beams could replace the tubular 'side rails of the unit sections.

What I claim is:

1. A demountable rack including unit shelf sections assembled one upon another and one beside another, eachunit section including'upright corner posts 'of right angle triangular,-tubular section intermediately connected by a horizontally-disposed shelf assembly, the upper and lower ends of'theposts extending from said shelf assembly, the posts being welded along one side surfaceto the shelf assembly with their hypotenuse faces disposed outwardly thereof, the hypotenuse surfaces at the'oneend of each section facing substantially rearwardly and'the hypotenuse surfaces at the opposite end of each section facing substantially forwardly so that when the unit sections are in side by side, assembled relation the-entire hypotenuse surfaces of the adjoining corner posts will be in rigidly braced, abutting relation, tubular riser members of rectangular section accommodating the upper ends of the abutting corner posts and the lower ends of the superjacent pair of abutting corner posts, similar risers of rectangular section accommodating the upper ends of the corner posts on the ends of the racksand the lower ends of the superjacent corner posts, and filler members of right angle triangular, tubular section with their hypotenuse surfaces disposed in rigidly braced, abutting relation withthe hypotenuse surfaces-of the end "corner posts of the sections snugly .provided in said last-mentioned risers, said filler members being of a length corresponding substantially to said corner post and having laterally projecting, L-shaped straps extending horizontally the width of the two outer sides of said filler members to engage the corresponding upper edges of said risers and hold the filler members in assembled relation.

2. A-dernountable rack including unit sections assembled one upon another and one beside another, the unit sections comprising corner posts of substantially right angle, triangular: section intermediately connected by a shelf assembly, the posts on the ends of each section beingdisposed with the'hypotenuse surfaces thereof outwardly,'and oppositely at the respective ends, so that-when theunit sections are placed in alignment one beside the other the hypotenuse surfaces of the posts will be in abutting relation, tubularriser members of the shaped theabutting posts'snugly accommodating the upper ends of the abuttingcorner posts and the lower ends of the superjacentpair of abutting corner posts, and similar tubular risers accommodating the upper ends of the corner posts on the ends of-the rack and the lower ends of the corner posts superjacent thereto.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,011,161 Comstock Dec. 12, 1911 2,449,069 Harrison Sept. 14, 1948 2,654,487 Degener Oct. 6, 1953 

